The settlement report said that in strange and reprehensible statements that reflect the Zionist colonial and racist ideology, the American ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, urged the government of Benjamin Netanyahu and Benny Gantz to accelerate the announcement of the annexation of areas in the occupied West Bank to Israel.
He told an Israeli newspaper that “if the government of Israel announces this, the United States will be prepared to recognize, in the coming weeks, Israel’s sovereignty over the Jordan Valley and Israeli settlement in Judea and Samaria, and that it will recognize 30% of the occupied West Bank as areas of Israel within the deal of the century in the context of His talk about the claims of entitlement of the Jews to the land of Palestine, where Friedman finds no rationale for Israel to give up areas such as Hebron and “Gush Etzion” and others, as it is at the heart of the Jewish Torah as he put it.
The settlement report said that with regard to the demarcation of settlement borders and whether they would be allowed to grow naturally, Friedman said that 97% of the settlements will have complete freedom to expand, including the Ariel settlement near Salfit, which he considered as “Tel Aviv”, pointing to the presence of 3% of the settlements In which only vertical construction will be permitted. Friedman continued, “Democratic administrations agreed in certain circumstances to Israeli sovereignty in the (settlement blocs) Gush Etzion, Ma’aleh Adumim and Ariel. But no one ever spoke about Hebron, Shilo, Bethel. This has happened now because his administration understands how important it is to the Israelis. Logically, the expectation is that Israel will relinquish these places, just as it is not logical to expect that the United States can relinquish the Statue of Liberty and the Lincoln Memorial. ”
In this regard, the advanced position that was announced by Democratic Party presidential candidate Joe Biden came to attention. The media and political circles also reported that the Democratic Party candidate for the American elections opposed the Israeli move to annex lands in the West Bank. According to his foreign policy adviser, Biden confirmed this to Jewish party activists in the Democratic Party that he has always opposed unilateral steps that might impose obstacles to the implementation of the two-state solution. It is reported that 220 Israeli generals and retired leaders from the Mossad, the Shin Bet and the police published in the Hebrew newspapers on Friday, April 3, a full page of signatures to urge their former colleagues in the government – namely Gantz and Gabi Ashkenazi, both of whom are former chiefs of staff of the Israeli army, to prevent Unilateral annexation of West Bank lands.
Meanwhile, the Israeli army minister, Naftali Bennett, approved the expansion of the area of ​​the “Efrat” settlement in the settlement bloc named Gush Etzion, which extends between Bethlehem and Hebron by about 1,100 acres, and thus opened the way for the start of preparations for the construction of 7,000 housing units in the settlement in a very dangerous step And no less dangerous than settlement building projects in the region called (E1) with the aim of blocking the so-called two-state solution once and for all. The Minister of Security in the Israeli Government, who has the authority to approve building plans in the Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, instructed the so-called responsible for state and absentee property in the occupied West Bank to approve construction plans and start planning a new settlement hill the Israeli calls “Hill of the Eagles”. (Givat Ha’atim) on lands annexed by Israel to the area of ​​influence of the authority of the settlement of Efrat, which would lead to the separation of Bethlehem from the surrounding Palestinian villages.
The endorsement came with direct and urgent directives from Benjamin Netanyahu before Naftali Bennett left the Ministry of the Army to impose his agenda on the work of the emergency government between the Likud party and the remnants of the Kabul Lavan party and days before the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo so that it appears as if it is in an agreed context between the American administration and the government of Israel in The framework for applying the annexation plans and imposing sovereignty over the settlements in a region that has always been the focus of ambitions to accommodate new settlers in the extension of what the Occupying Power calls the Greater Jerusalem.
Violations of the Israeli army and herds of settlers continued in a number of West Bank governorates. In Hebron Governorate, settlers demolished areas of agricultural land in favor of constructing a settlement road near the “Nighot†settlement built on citizens ‘land in the town of Dura, south of Hebron, owned by citizens of the Al-Sweiti and Jad Allah families. These bulldozing activities were carried out under the supervision of the settlers and under the protection of the Israeli soldiers, who were present at the site before the arrival of the vehicles and trucks. In the Nablus governorate, the Israeli forces prevented citizens from plowing their lands in the village of Al-Sawiya, south of Nablus, specifically in the Al-Wad area, where dozens of citizens went out to plow them, and protect them from settler attacks, but the Israeli army accompanied by the settlers prevented them from doing this, on the pretext that they are closed military areas.
This area is constantly under attack by settlers. A settler from the Rahalim settlement has set up a tent in the Al-Wad region. Settlers have also cut hundreds of olive trees during the past months. In the Bethlehem governorate, settlers cut down 450 grapes, belonging to Ibrahim Suleiman Sobeih, from the village of Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem. The citizen reported that Subeih owned 40 dunums of land between the settlement of Efrat, planted with grapes, tonsils, and olives, and was constantly exposed to pressure and attacks with the aim of Force him to leave it to the settlers.
In an early move in the Israeli Knesset to enact laws that encompass large areas in the West Bank with the encouragement of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, May Golan, a member of the Israeli Knesset on the right-wing Likud party, presented in agreement with the heads of settlement councils and with the support of the Likud Minister of Economy and other members of the Netanyahu camp The Knesset has a bill to the Knesset to implement Israeli sovereignty over the settlements in the occupied West Bank and the Palestinian Valley areas and the northern Dead Sea as it has political, security and economic wealth for Israel, and there are thousands of settlers who are an integral part of it. A from the State of Israel, in addition to correcting the current situation and achieving historical justice, according to Golan.
While the Minister of Security in the state of Israel, Naftali Bennett, decided to carry out renovations in the section that was taken from the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in favor of Jewish prayer halls, after the Baruch Goldstein massacre. The decision of the Minister of Israeli Security comes despite the fact that the powers to carry out repairs and approve them on the Ibrahimi Mosque are within the jurisdiction of the Hebron municipality, in accordance with the Oslo agreements and the Hebron agreement.
After the confiscation of lands adjacent to the Ibrahimi Mosque, Naftali Bennett approved settlers to make repairs “to provide access to the physically handicapped and people with special needs” at a cost of about 5 million shekels (about $ 600,000 million), with funding from the ministries of tourism, religions, and security.
According to the approved plans, an elevator and a side road from the parking site to the entrance, and a bridge connecting the elevator with the entrance to the Ibrahimi Mosque in the area that was cut off to the settlers ‘prayers, will be erected after obtaining approval from the Ministry of Justice in the Israeli government, several weeks ago, And after the approval of both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Foreign Minister, Yisrael Katz.
Official international and civil responses to the Israeli annexation projects supported and covered by the American administration continued. In addition to reactions condemning the annexation plans that the Israeli emergency government intends to implement and which were reviewed by the settlement report last week, the committee of the United Nations General Assembly on the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people called on the international community, in particular the Security Council, to assume its responsibilities and take actions Urgent to address the risk of Israel annexing the Palestinian territories, considering what is being done to undermine the so-called two-state solution.
The Council called on the Israeli government to refrain from taking such unilateral steps, which would lead to the loss of any remaining hope for the success of any future peace process. It also called on the United States of America, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations to respond to these unilateral annexation schemes with a specific peace initiative. In time, according to international law and United Nations resolutions on this issue, with the goal of achieving a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in this part of the world that the three religions consider sacred.
In the weekly violations documented by the National Office for the Defense of the Earth, they were as follows during the reporting period:
Jerusalem: The committee supervising the prayers of the Jewish settlers in the Islamic Al-Buraq Square west of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque announced the resumption of prayers at the place and the decision permits 300 people in several groups to pray Al-Buraq Square, which is controlled by Israel, after nearly two months of prevention due to the spread of Coronavirus. While a group of settlements performed public Talmudic prayers in front of the door of purification, one of the doors of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, where the Israeli police provided protection to 3 settlements by performing provocative Talmudic prayers at the place on the opposite side of the Dome of the Rock, at a time when the Israeli authorities continued to close the courtyards of the mosque The blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque in front of the Palestinian worshipers under the pretext of the spread of the Coronavirus.
Hebron: A number of “Yaqoub Talia” settlers located on the lands of the citizens in Musafir Yatta stole the farmers’ “crops” near Bir al-Adad, and prevented farmers from watering their sheep from the area’s wells.
Nablus: settlers attacked Harbi Abdo, 50, a resident of the town of Beit Ummreen, while he was grazing his livestock near the abandoned “Homesh†settlement, located on the lands of the village of Barqa, north of Nablus. They stole 70 of his sheep. He was bruised by the body as a result of the settlers assaulting him, and he was provided with first aid and transferred to the hospital.
Salfit: The Israeli Forces have notified three citizens to stop building and demolishing two homes and a shed in the northern and eastern region of Qarawat Bani Hassan west of Salfit, and the area targeted by the dangers is located next to the “Burkan†settlement and its industrial area. Both Abdel Hakim Aziz Merhi and Yassin Nabil Maree received two notifications to stop building their homes Under construction, Jalal Kanaan was notified of the demolition of the shed. In a related context, the Israeli forces prevented farmers and sheepherders from staying in the northwestern area of ​​the town called (Al-Nuwaiteef) on the pretext of their proximity to the settlements that were forcibly established on the town’s lands. The Israeli authorities expelled the shepherds from grazing areas of the village of Qarawat Bani Hassan west of Salfit. Where it distributed new notices to the rest of the homes in the eastern and northern regions of the town and prevented farmers and sheepherders from staying in Al-Nuwaitif area, it is noteworthy that the Nuwaitef area is considered a natural reserve and is targeted by the Israeli authorities for settlement expansion
Qalqilya: The Israeli forces took over a water well drilling equipment and a crane operating in a location between the lands of the villages of Ras Attia and Mghara al-Dabaa, south of Qalqilya, and took over the equipment after the workers handed a notice to stop work immediately.
Bethlehem : The Israeli forces notified Raed Khalil Joudeh, from the town of Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, to stop work on two agricultural fields. They are located in the Al-Sawanah area of ​​the town, on the pretext of not licensing. Mohammed Yahya Ayesh, from Artas village, south of Bethlehem, was able to extract a decision to install his land 100 dunums in the area of ​​”Khalat Al-Nahleh” near the village of Oued Rahal in the south while transferring the rest of the area of ​​200 dunums to the Israeli “Stabilization of Land Registry” committee, where it was The Israeli authorities announced the land of Citizen Ayesh as state land in the year 2004, and the declaration was confirmed in the year 2016.
Tulkarm: The Israeli authorities have delivered a number of citizens notifications to stop building in their homes under construction and finishing, in the village of Akaba, north of Tulkarm. The ownership of the houses belongs to Youssef Muhammad Taha Amarneh, Nihad Ibrahim Taha Amarneh, Abdel Rahim Suleiman Amarneh, and Ayman Mustafa Ahmad Amarneh, Hudhaifa Muhammad Ahmad Amarneh, and Mustafa Mahmoud Betawi. The Israeli forces, accompanied by the so-called “members of the Israeli Organizing and Building Committee”, stormed the village, and handed over the owners of the six houses notices to stop the construction, on the pretext that it is Area C, despite the owners’ possession of legal documents proving their ownership of the land. These houses are located at the entrance to the village, some of which are ready for habitation, and the area is a kilometer away from the wall of annexation and racial expansion,
Jenin: The Israeli Forces delivered a notification, Brigadier General Bassam Samih Amarneh, with a notice to demolish his 220-square-meter house, under the pretext of building along the wall of annexation and racial expansion, and his deadlines until the twentieth of this month, for written opposition to the demolition decision.
Jordan Valley: In the Al-Aqaba area, east of the town of Tayasir, the Israeli forces demolished an agricultural room owned by Murad Jaber, after the Israeli court rejected the request. Jaber’s lawyer asked the petition to stop the demolition on the pretext of not licensing. Water. According to citizens, the Israeli forces confiscated dozens of panels, columns, and barracks materials, owned by Anwar Abu Joudeh.
According to Israel’s new decisions, it does not give any deadlines to the notified citizens to demolish their facilities in order to go to the courts to stop the demolition process that is carried out according to the decision after only 96 hours. To the supremacy of the entity formally.
